Ripping Yarns

Offbeat comedy which celebrates the role that pointless violence in public schools has made to our splendid nation.

Michael Palin and Terry Jones's spoof comedy series tells the dark and tragic tale of the terminally boring Eric, whose mind-boggling tediousness forces his parents to leave home. Undaunted, Eric joins forces with a hardened criminal and proceeds to write his name in the history books.

A tale of courage and fortitude behind the lines in the Kaiser's Germany. A British POW's constant escape attempts exasperate his German captors - and his fellow prisoners.

Hugo and Dora drive down to see Mumsie and Dadsie-pie for a long weekend in the country. But their tophole weekend turns out to be longer than they thought.

Set in 1920s Peru, this is the stirring story of one man and six frogs who tried to defy the world in the greatest gamble of all. Michael Palin appears alongside Denholm Elliott, but it is the frogs - the European Tree Frog, the Italian Agile Frog, the European Marsh Frogs, the Edible Frogs and the Himalayan Sleeping Frog (to be kept in reserve) - who are the stars.

The story of a man who dabbled in the dark mysteries of the Orient, and lived to tell the tale. Or did he? An unexpected visit by the Bhutan-bound Captain Merson and his band of native bearers to the Maidenhead home of recently bereaved Kevin causes him to relive a ripping story of fear, tragedy and terror. It is the story of a claw. A claw with a curse.

A knockabout tale of international intrigue. Dashing, debonair Gerald Whinfrey saves his country twice a week. But in 1913 a German plot - to start the First World War without telling anyone - coincides with his Cornish fishing holiday. Where will Whinfrey's loyalties lie?

A torrid tale of football fanaticism in the 1930s. Super-fan Gordon Ottershaw supports Barnstoneworth United, a team that hasn't won a match for six years. But worse is to come and Gordon and his bicycle clips are re-united in a last desperate bid for glory and Bovril.

A tale of social guilt and sexual awakening in dramatic, all-action living colour. Pubescent Roger Bartlesham comes of age in the turbulent climate of colonial India, when circumstances beyond his control drive him towards the most deplorable act known to the British army.